The Adventure

[Kikacat123]

I hope that you like this one. You are going on an adventure. Your goal is to find the hidden city of Atlantis. The problem is, you have enough food and water for your journey, but the only other things you have are a 200 foot coil of nylon rope, a full box of matches, a knife, a backpack, a fold up tent, a long walking stick, and your wits. You will face many dangers as you travel. It is your job to avoid the dangers and decipher the clues that will lead you to the Lost City of Atlantis. The way this game is played is simple, but there are a few rules.

1. I will periodically give you a clue or an obstacle to solve or evade.

2. The story will only continue when someone solves the riddle or figures out how to get past the obstacle.

3. When you have an obstacle, you must get past it using only the items that have been given to you.

4. There are ten obstacles and ten clues. If you solve all of them, you win the game!

5. Everyone can work together to solve riddles or obstacles. Go teamwork!

Your first clue is this:

I have a bed but do not sleep, have a mouth but do not eat, have a bank but have no cash, have no legs but run quite fast. What am I?

There you are! Now, go and reach that city!

[phaze]

As there has been a long delay in stories there is enough time for the third squid to lay a slimly tentacle on the the most obvious weapon. She quickly surges forward in an effort to protect her young brood with the knife extended. Ah inertia, the problem with doing anything at great speed is that manoeuvring becomes difficult. After waiting for the last possible second (my excuse for this post being so late) I pulled myself out of the way using a rocky outcrop. Had I still been there my lifeless body might have cushioned the blow but the squid slammed with full force into the rocky outcrop. Just before striking the hard surface the squid released an inky jet in a futile attempt to prevent my escape. The knife dislodged and began sinking to the murky depths below. Dazed and confused the squid now had to attend to the issue of finding me through the inky mirk she had just released. This provided enough time to test the intelligence of this creature. Swimming over to the cave she used as her nest I gathered what I thought was a large rock. Holding over my head in preparation to kill her 3 small offspring sent a clear message, "You come any closer and they die". The effect was immediate and worked far better than expected, after spying the rock the squid bolted never to been seen again. Even the young squid abandoned the nest well before their time and chased after their mother. "Well done, but how did you know that these squids are deathly allergic to giant cone shell poisoning?" asked the merman. After quickly examining what I previously thought to be a rock I quickly dropped the poisonous specimen. The merman then explained over the next 10 minutes that giant squids count the giant cone shells as their mortal enemies to such an extent that they would even abandon there young rather than go near one.

[kestrelknight]

Huzzah!

[Kikacat123]

And... The winner of the How to Defeat a Giant Squid Writing Contest is...

...Aaryan!

You and the merman both take a moment to rest from the ordeal with the squid. "I can see now that you are brave and resourceful," the merman notes. "Although I'm sorry Phoebe had that unfortunate...er...accident during your test."

"Phoebe?"

"The squid."

"Uh..."

"Never mind. We must continue on our journey."

After a while of swimming, you mysteriously slam into an invisible squishy wall of some sort. Rubbing your head, you ask, "What was that?"

Before the merman can answer, you hear a booming voice sound out all around you. "I am Sting, king of the jellyfish! You must answer my riddle to pass!"

Though you are getting tired of riddles, it seems best to hear Sting out.

"Switch one letter from seaweed, and you'll get the cry of one in need. The next letter (not g or u) is the last in me, myself and who? Third, the belly of a fish, is something you don't want to be...this. Lastly, you see you have family so far just add a g and find what I...are." The jellyfish said as he searched for the final rhyme.

Go! This one is very hard!

[Brainy Binary]

Very hard

[Kikacat123]

Hint: what is a synonym for seaweed? ( or something like it)

[phaze]

Kelp-Help

[Thalia]

Switch one letter from seaweed, and you'll get the cry of one in need.

K
The next letter (not g or u) is the last in me, myself and who? I
Third, the belly of a fish, is something you don't want to be...this. IN
Lastly, you see you have family so far just add a g and find what I...are. KING

[Kikacat123]

I'm terribly sorry for my absence, as I have been busy with a sports tournament.

But, pressing on: you solved it, Thalia!

Now back to our story-

Nervously, you mumble, "A king?"

With a shout that makes your eardrums pound like a marching band, Sting (the king) congratulates you on your riddle-solving ability. "Feel free to pass!" He booms. Relieved that Sting did not live up to his name, you and the merman swim on. Unfortunately, you know well enough that another danger is not far off. Because you are on your guard, the trial is not unexpected. As you and the merman swish peacefully deeper into the ocean, you become vaguely aware of a dark presence.

It gradually becomes more pronounced (and all the more terrifying in its clarity.) A massive shark is making a beeline (or perhaps sharkline) for its prey...you. Quickly, the merman hands you a small handheld device. "This is an underwater item propeller. It can shoot objects at a very rapid rate underwater. You must use it to defeat this beast. I cannot help you other than with this. Please, stop this monster!"

You have a knife you could put in the propeller, but the shark is so big that it will do hardly any damage, even to an eye or another sensitive spot. How do you defeat the shark?

Go with haste! Once again, your life is at stake!

[phaze]

1. Put self in propeller

2. Fire!

Edit: extra points for aim propeller at sharks nose. This provide you with escape and shark with just punishment

Edited September 30, 2013 by phaze

[plasmid]

Unfortunately the propelling device is handheld. If you must hold it in one hand, then conservation of momentum forbids that solution (I think).

Unless the merman is willing to use it to fire you in one direction tangent to the shark's approach, and therefore also propel himself in the opposite direction so you both escape.

Or you could use the device to propel the merman with a similar advantageous use of conservation of momentum to save yourself.

Or if all else fails, bash the merman upside the head with the propelling device and swim away while the shark is busy eating merman.

[kestrelknight]

*insert joke about our sharp wits here*

I would take a proper guess, but I'm on mobile, and I can't remember the code for a spoiler. I'll have a good go once I get a chance to sit down at a desktop.

[Kikacat123]

You don't have to use a spoiler. Guessing in the open won't give anything away, as this is a challenge, not a riddle. And for phaze and plasmid: since the device is handheld, it is not large enough to fire a person. Try using some other tools.

[kestrelknight]

And I took all the trouble to fire up my good old PC.

I'm not sure what we still have of our original supplies, so I'll try and come up with a solution using each of them.

Could we use this to keep him busy? Or perhaps put a knife in it and go "fishing" with our stick and rope...? Yeah, I realise this doesn't really use the propeller.

We could make a net and shoot that at him.

Matches... will be pretty much useless right now...

Reflect the sun into its eyes? I'm not really sure if this would work on a shark, but it's worth a try, isn't it?

This could also be used as a net. Something that will cover and confuse the shark, and maybe hinder its swimming ability.

Could simply be fired. If its mouth is open, this could do a lot of harm. Especially if we attack the knife to the end of it.

I'm sure we'll come up with something... Eh-heh.

Just taking some stabs, really, but they could be correct.

[Kikacat123]

The walking stick/spear thing is a good idea, but not really what I had in mind. I'll give you a hint: this thing is too big and powerful to kill. Trapping it is nigh impossible. What is left?

[kestrelknight]

Distracting it...? (I'd also like to mention how dead we'd all be right now.)

[Kikacat123]

This discussion is all occurring in your adventurer's mind in the blink of an eye. And no, not distracting it...try incapacitating it in some way. (Huge hint)

[Kikacat123]

Note: this is obstacle 8.

Hint: this shark will do anything to get at some tasty food...

[kestrelknight]

Could we possibly shoot some food at it...? Or perhaps onto land, if it can shoot that far.

[Kikacat123]

If I were a shark, I would definitely go for some food, but that will not distract it for long. Think of a specific thing about sharks that makes them vulnerable.

[kestrelknight]

The two things that came to mind were bonking them on the nose, and that they die if they stop swimming.

Edit: Typo

Edited October 8, 2013 by kestrelknight

[Kikacat123]

I had another thing in mind...

[plasmid]

fire the knife at a nearby critter. Rumors are that sharks can smell blood from low earth orbit. Once every shark in the Atlantic descends upon it, let them fight for first dibs while I make my getaway.

I'm admittedly too much of a landlubber to come up with a more sophisticated answer.

[Kikacat123]

Wouldn't the sharks likely see you as another piece of prey, too?

Edit: several of these answers would possibly work, but I am really looking for one obscure shark fact that exposes a weakness. If someone guesses it or wows me with a foolproof plan, then we will move on.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Kikacat123

[Kikacat123]

Anybody?

[kestrelknight]

I'm still thinking...